In telecommunications networks, Customer Premises (or Provided) Equipment (CPE) includes a terminal and associated equipment and inside wiring located at a subscriber's premises and connected to a carrier's communication channel(s) at the demarcation point (“demarc”). The demarc is a point established in a building or complex to separate customer equipment from telephone company equipment. Excluded from CPE are over-voltage protection equipment and pay telephones in accordance with Federal Standard 1037C.
The demarcation point varies depending on the building type and service level. At a typical residential house, for instance, the demarcation point is a box normally mounted on the outside wall (in recent years, as close to the electrical ground as possible). Apartments and businesses having multiple lines typically have a ‘punch down block’ in an equipment room. More recently, a demarcation point may consist of either the first jack serviced or a special jack designed to function as a demarcation point in the premises. The special jacks often resemble jacks made to connect wall mounted telephones, but with a short cord looped at the bottom to a separate plug. Unplugging that loop isolates the rest of the residence.
Changes in phone repair services now place the responsibility of repair and maintenance beyond the demarcation point in the hands of the customer. Most residential and some large scale units now have a jack which allows the customer to disconnect their inside wires and check to see if their service is working properly from that point on.
There is a need, accordingly, for tool to allow a customer or a service technician to test all the various inputs that a subscriber may have. Currently, separate tools for testing each of the networking technologies are required. Furthermore, the separate tools typically incorporate detailed analysis, such as packet sniffers, at additional cost. The present invention, in contrast, provides technicians a single, inexpensive, simple tool to test each of the home data communications networking technologies they are likely to run into on a job.